


Drabbles

by Bookworm101103



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27638672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm101103/pseuds/Bookworm101103
Summary: Just some quick writing drabbles from school, hope you enjoy!
Kudos: 1





	1. The Beast

He knows, long before he sees it, that the garden beds have long ago withered and died from lack of care. They need new soil, and he knows right away he's going to need wood ashes if he expects to grow anything in the mountain's natural soil.

He supposes he can use the ash from his fireplace and the rest of the royal quarters if he can find a maid to ask. A maid who will talk to him, instead of looking at her shoes and bobbing up and down uselessly before scurrying away in fear.

Of Rhoam, the king, he wonders idly, or of him?

He fiddles with the ring on his finger. It still bothers him a bit to wear it, as does the circlet of gold and jewels nestled awkwardly between his antlers.

Vegetables, he decides firmly, for the more protected beds in the sheltered area, aloe, dogwood, and angelica scattered in-between. The great big one in the centre though, that'll be a bit trickier. Some hardy things like fennel and thyme and mint, that would be more practical.

And for the bed that circles the far wall, some ivy, or hedges or both. If he's careful, he could start a few trees up here once he gets the soil a bit more matured and steadier.

An apple tree. 

He likes the ideas of a few flowers as well. Mother had kept huge bushes of hydrangeas scattered around Raconteur Castle, and he remembers her singing to them when he was first spilt, weaving magic into the blooms. Even after she had left, he had strived to support them with his magic, fertilizing them with blood and bone and watering them with screams of despair.

But he does like this plan, so far. He doesn't want it to look hodgepodge after all. A garden needs to be planned and planned carefully. _Sugar-snap peas,_ he decides, in the bed by the wall, and imagines them climbing up it, getting to eat one fresh off the vine, sharp teeth puncturing the green skin like flesh.

It will never be Raconteur Castle, with his books, and his mother's flowers, no matter what he does but he must make the best of things, he thinks, as he twists his new ring.

At least until the winter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REFERENCE BANK
> 
> Thyme: activity, bravery, courage, strength
> 
> Mint: eternal refreshment, wisdom, virtue
> 
> Fennel: strength, worthy of praise, flattery
> 
> Dogwood: love undiminished by adversity, durability
> 
> Aloe: healing, protection, grief, bitterness, affection
> 
> Angelica: inspiration, magic
> 
> Ivy symbolises fidelity (it won't easily let go of something it's attached itself to) and eternal life (because the plant is evergreen). In ancient Egypt, ivy was dedicated to Osiris, who represented immortality. In ancient Greece, ivy was the plant of Dionysus because of its vigour.
> 
> Apple Apples are brimming with symbolic meanings and mythic associations. In China they represent peace, and apple blossoms are a symbol of women's beauty. In other traditions, they can signify wisdom, joy, fertility, and youthfulness.
> 
> Apples play an important part in several Greek myths. Hera (pronounced HAIR-uh), queen of the gods, owned some precious apple trees that she had received as a wedding present from Gaia (pronounced GAY-uh), the earth mother. Tended by the Hesperides (pronounced hee-SPER-uh-deez), the Daughters of Evening, and guarded by a fierce dragon, these trees grew in a garden somewhere far in the west. Their apples were golden, tasted like honey, and had magical powers. They could heal the sick or injured, they renewed themselves as they were eaten, and if thrown, they always hit their target and then returned to the thrower's hand.
> 
> Also seen as a symbol of obsession and vanity.
> 
> Purple hydrangeas symbolize a desire to deeply understand someone.
> 
> Raconteur – one who excels in storytelling.


	2. Tesla

Approximately 1532 years before this story starts, Tesla lost her arm. Not the whole arm, mind you, just up to the elbow. 

_3 hits,_ The Thing From The Door had said. 

_3 knocks_ , The Thing That Heralded The Dark had said. 

_3 questions_ , The Thing That Was The Dreamer had said. 

The Thing had smiled, pleased. 

_No more_

_No less_

Tesla had felt a horrible, erratic thumping in her chest at that smile as if a large bird were trapped inside her ribcage and beating itself to death. 

_Don’t be greedy now._

_SNAP_

She had gotten greedy. 

But she had gotten what she wanted, the strings of knowledge and creation twirling around her neck like a noose and her ankles like chains. If the price of a little more had been an arm and her mind, that was fair trade wasn’t it? She’d already lost everything, ( _Her brother, friends, her home, her family, her life, her la douleur exquise)_ so what was a little more?

“It will have to be paid for,” the Council whispered, even as they dragged her body from the battlefield to be their personal Prometheus. “It isn’t natural, and trouble will come of it.”

Fighting off sleep at her grand desk in her private office, she watches the fruits of that labour as Luca and Javis brush against each other as they work - like moths, flames, two moths born in flames. They don't seem to see anyone else, not really. If they speak to the other Technitos, they say with their eyes and smiles: _I'm just waiting to be away, I'm just waiting to go back to her_. Everyone else, even Tesla, they’re just periphery to this. They don't need anyone else; a nucleus, just the two of them. They are a family – denied to the very end by Javis - which at its core is just two; if others are permitted to exist, they must exist as satellites. Orbiting forever, never closer. A part, apart. Everyone else is superfluous to their love.

She tries even harder to keep her eyelids from drooping, fighting against the pull of unconsciousness.

The dream in front of her giggled. “I missed you,” Arissa said.

Tesla couldn’t move. Curled up in her lap, Suigetsu doesn’t give any indication that she’d heard her. The Puella Alitium’s head was bowed and her eyes were closed like she was asleep, but she was still holding Tesla’s coat, grip solid and firm. Arissa smiled at her, slitted, heterochromatic eyes bright, like a glint of sunshine reflecting off the blades of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, the last thing one would see before taking a katana to the chest and Tesla was blinded by an intense wave of some horrible emotion that she thought she had smothered 1542 years ago.

_The Queen of Dragons is dead! The traitor to the throne is dead!_

_Long live the Guardian!_

“I thought of you,” she tried, weakly.

“I know,” Arissa said, and added, “it’s okay,” because she knew. Tesla wished she hadn’t said that. Her forgiveness hurt worse because she knew she’d never deserved it.

“I love you,” Tesla choked out because that would always be true, no matter what: some part of her was Arissa’s, always, easing the loneliness on particularly rare nights where she got shitfaced and tried to remember what the stars looked like from the top of Mt. Ukiyo. 

_Just because I like being alone doesn’t mean I like being lonely_

“I’m happy for you,” Arissa said, sweet and perfect as only a memory could be.

“You’re only saying that because I want you to say that,” Tesla said.

Arissa giggled. “Even if I am, isn’t it still nice to hear?”

“Yeah,” she said, quiet: the sound was carried away by air – conditioning breeze, gone in an instant like she’d never said it at all. She sat with them – Tesla, Suigetsu, Luca, Javis and Haven, who came through the Diabyse crest - engraved double doors at the end of the room and eyed them all with surprise – for a while more, calm like she’d never been all those years ago; watching over them, almost. 

Tesla wished she could burn the sight of her into her heart. 

She closed her eyes, and dreamed of a Dark Place, with a Dark, Dreaming Thing and wondered if it had all been worth it.

_No more._

_No less._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References
> 
> Sonder – the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own
> 
> Kiyohime – A woman who transformed into a serpent demon due to unrequited love (Diabyse family crest)
> 
> La douler exquise – the heart-wrenching pain of wanting the affection of someone unattainable
> 
> Prometheus - In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a culture hero and trickster figure who is credited with the creation of humanity from clay, and who defies the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity as civilization. Prometheus is known for his intelligence and for being a champion of humankind and is also seen as the author of the human arts and sciences generally.
> 
> Technitos – Greek for ‘artificial’
> 
> Puella Alitium – Arabic for ‘battery girl’
> 
> Amaterasu – Japanese god of the sun
> 
> Tsukiyomi – Japanese god the moon
> 
> Ukiyo – literally ‘the floating world’, living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life


	3. Old Centurion Marriage Vows

I invoke the gifts of the gods so that I might be worthy of the one I will call my own

I call upon the second born, Loneliness Incarnate, to teach me faith.

Faith in myself-that the strength in my convictions may never fade.

Faith in you-that I might never doubt you in the face of adversity and darkness.

I will never betray you in our intimacy and put my utmost trust in you in turn

_Never will I doubt you and never will I lose faith in us._

_No matter what trials we face together or what misunderstandings come between us, I will always choose to believe the best in you._

_I will never betray you in our intimacy and put my utmost trust in you in turn._

  
  


I call upon the third born, Failure Personified, to inspire me to learn.

To learn every face of you, to know you through all your triumphs and tragedies, past, present and future.

To learn all of the virtues and sins that have forged and tempered your spirit, to see the beauty that lies therein.

I open myself to you likewise, and there shall be no secret of mine left to disclose.

_May each new day bring a new lesson, a new story of you._

_I take you as you are, for all the light and darkness in you._

_I vow to spend the rest of my life learning every inch of your body, of your heart._

_I open myself to you likewise, and there shall be no secret of mine left to disclose._

I call upon the fourth-born, Violence Epitomized, to grant me strength.

Strength of body-that I might always walk by your side and protect you with all that I am.

Strength of heart-that my affection may never falter.

I devote myself to you wholly and to no other.

_No matter what distance or time passes between us, no matter what designs of the gods might keep you from home, always I will wait for you, patient and faithful._

_I devote myself to you wholly, and no other._

I call upon the Thinker, the Warrior, the Leader and the Dreamer, They Who Are Blessed With An Infinity of Shapes, to move me to change.

To change, to never become complacent and take for granted the blessings I have been given.

To change for the sake of you who inspires the best in me, to rise above my fears and misgivings to be the person you deserve.

All that I was, all that I am, all that I shall become-I proffer myself to you, freely and willingly.

_To change is the birthright of our Creators._

_Transformation, adaptation, compromise-there can be no lasting peace or love without them._

_So, if we must change, we will do so together._

_All that I was, all that I am, all that I shall become-I proffer myself to you, freely and willingly._

And at the last, I call upon our Guardian, to help us understand our path and bind us eternally to these vows.

Do you take me, to watch and hold and love and live and protect for the rest of eternity?

_I do._


End file.
